SOCHI, February 13. /ITAR-TASS/. Champions of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov said they were looking forward to the medal ceremony, and only after that they would really believe they are the best figure skating couple here at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

On Thursday, the athletes appeared before journalists in the hall of Olympic sponsor Samsung, and although it was only yesterday when they were still fighting for gold, both of them looked agile and refreshed. Moreover, Maxim was now clean shaven and did not resemble at all Lermontov’s literature character Arbenin from the drama Masquerade in the short program and the Savior from Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Jesus Christ Superstar, chosen for the free program.

“I told myself every day — just a little more patience, and I will say goodbye to this moustache and beard; may February 12 (the day of free skating competition) come soon,” Trankov told Itar-Tass.

The gold winners celebrated their success quite modestly — they just gathered for dinner with their coach and their team. However, they did not manage to get a good night’s sleep, spending most of the time answering messages of congratulations they had received in the Internet from all over the world. Most letters of appreciation and support were certainly sent from Russia and Ukraine, where Tatyana was born.

“Tanya and I have always said that we skate for both Russia and Ukraine,” Trankov said. “Tanya has many relatives in Ukraine and her parents live there. This is a victory for that country as well.”

The athletes wished good luck to their teammate and two-time Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko, who performs in the men’s short program competition on Thursday evening.